Search

This paper presents a comparative perspective on risk perception and decision-making within United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) entrepreneurial communities since the bursting of the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) bubble in 2000. Using an empirical approach drawn from political science literature, this paper relies upon interviews and Q (rather than R) methodology to analyze the experiences and insights of individuals throughout innovation investment communities, including entrepreneurs, investment angels, venture capitalists, and institutional investors. This study sheds light on post-boom behavioral trends and risk propensities, in relation to actors' interrelated decision-making processes. From decision-makers' reported and ranked perceptions, factor analysis in conjunction with additional contextual evidence was used to identify four influential groups of individuals with shared approaches to early-stage innovation investment: American-style managers, junior venture professionals, experienced angel investors, and committed business builders. From this study of the social and economic geography of American and British innovation communities, implications are drawn for understanding the effectiveness of staged-funding networks in the innovation process and subsequently for community and economic development. Furthermore, this analysis represents a foray into application of Q methodology to the study of economic geography generally and innovation clusters specifically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the early implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in health and social care in England. The author examines the research evidence to date, particularly monitoring data from the Department of Health, in order to review the progress made in implementation. The extent to which the Act is achieving its overall aim of facilitating decision-making by people lacking capacity is discussed, focusing on people with dementia. The author concludes that the initial implementation of the Act (and the related Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards) has had only limited effectiveness in facilitating decision-making by people lacking capacity, promoting their best interests and protecting their liberty. Future implementation needs to ensure that the rights of people lacking capacity, particularly people with dementia, are taken more seriously in health and social care and are better protected. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses the role of gender dynamics in the experiences of credit and debt in low income families in the UK, drawing on a qualitative longitudinal study funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It builds on earlier work on: the household economy; the gendered distribution of income specifically within low income families in receipt of benefits; and the extent of credit and debt in the UK currently. Following critiques of traditional sociological and social psychological analyses of the household economy, it takes a more discursive approach, which enables identification of gender dynamics as one of the mechanisms through which decision-making in relation to this area of practice is accomplished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourist decision-making is complex and understanding why some tourists may reject a cruise vacation is important for continued growth of the cruise sector. Image elicitation was employed in twenty interviews with cruisers and non-cruisers in the UK. Findings revealed risk perceptions influence cruise decision-making as vacation choices reflect self. Cruisers choose cruise vacations to reduce risk to self and affirm self-concept, and non-cruisers perceive social and psychological risk in cruising. Non-cruisers find social value in disassociation from and rejecting cruise vacations, illuminating how self-congruity influences cruise decision-making. Theoretical contributions and practical implications for industry are identified with specific recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on material from a case study of a group of young people involved in ongoing public decision-making in a local authority. The group of young people is compared to a political interest group and insights from the literature applied. It is argued that two of the strongest resources the group had to offer adult decision-makers were their ability to speak on behalf of other young people and to do this in acceptable ways. Looking in more depth at these two resources, it can be seen that both were actively constructed and contested by the adults and young people over time. Both resources can be seen as holding advantages for the young people while at the same time being continuously problematic for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]